By Michael Lynch
There is no doubt that Melbourne City has achieved the biggest domestic coup the A-League has ever had with the capture of Tim Cahill for the upcoming season.
Cahill is, by common consensus, the most successful Socceroo in the game's history and is a legendary figure within the local game. His capture has already won City plenty of headlines and plaudits, and if he can build their crowds and have an on-field impact then his job will be done.
Michael Essien has an impressive CV.Credit: Getty Images
But if cross-town rivals Melbourne Victory sign Michael Essien, the former midfield dynamo who powered Chelsea to two Premier League titles, they can claim, with some justification, that they will have captured a bigger global name.
Essien is 33, three years younger than Cahill, but his CV makes for mouth-watering reading.
The Ghanaian – he was born in Accra but began his professional career as a teenager with French club Bastia – has won two English Premierships, an FA Cup, a League Cup, a Community Shield and, most impressive of all, a Champions League title with Chelsea.
He also won two French league titles with Lyon, twice scored Chelsea's goal of the season, was picked in the African Cup of Nations team of the tournament in 2008, the Ligue Un team of the year in France in 2003 and 2005 and, as an individual, was named Africa's player of the year in 2006, a year after he was named as Ligue Un's player of the year in France.
That is a serious list of achievements which are worthy of a world-class player, which Essien, in his pomp, undoubtedly was.
But as everyone discovers – even Cahill, who these days is used more often off the bench by the national team than as a starter – age does take its toll.
And Essien's wings have been clipped throughout his magnificent career by injuries that have limited his achievements and prevented him having an even greater impact.
Victory insists it will not sign Essien unless he gets a clean bill of health – essential for a player whose primary strength was his physicality and drive, his ability to run with power, pace, strength, speed and skill.
Not for nothing was he known as "The Beast" in his heyday, when he also lined up for AC Milan and Real Madrid while a loan player from Chelsea.
Essien's career has been hamstrung by a series of serious knee injuries that kept him out of action for months at a time in recent years. He has had three cruciate and knee ruptures that limited his effectiveness in his latter days at Chelsea and also his time in Madrid and Milan.
But the respect and affection in which he was held by his teammates and managers – including the hugely demanding Jose Mourinho – leave no one in any doubt as to the calibre of individual Victory will be getting should they sign him.
Mourinho, who coached him at Chelsea and in Madrid, once described him as, "a great man".
"He is loyal to me, he is loyal to Chelsea, he is loyal to Madrid, he is loyal to everybody.
"He's a fantastic player ... I know Michael better than anybody else. I know he can play in every position apart from goalkeeper and striker," he said in 2013.
Essien's last club was Greek giant Panathinaikos, but once again his time there was restricted by the frailties of his body. He did get on the pitch on numerous occasions but expressed his surprise that he did not start more often, so perhaps it wasn't such a great shock when at the end of the season he began to look for other opportunities.
If Victory can sign a fit and focused Essien – a player whose body is in top shape and who is determined to make the final years of his career a success in a new environment – it will be a massive bonus, one that will surely yield great results and widen their profile beyond Australia as Essien's exploits will be followed with interest by fans at his former clubs.
And what a prospect for Melbourne fans ... Cahill in sky blue, Essien in dark blue, as the rivalry cranks up another notch.